IGN UK reviews MAG (7.6/10)

[Reasonable]

Twistedpixel said:

Procrastinato said:

Twistedpixel said:

Procrastinato said:

Kylie, MAG is not generic.

I think the best way to describe it, is that MAG feels like war, whereas other shooters feel like sports. The player count is necessary for that feeling. Its not generic... in fact its completely different.

In that case, its now a question about whether the console market wants a war simulator. Pretty much anything with the word sim in its title or genre destription lives on the PC with the exception of racing games.

I think that you need to be careful about drawing a line between PC and Console gaming.  You could say that RPGs like Dragon Age and Mass Effect belong on the PC as well.  In a sense, you're falling into the same trap that people did when, pre-Halo, the gaming media often suggested that online shooters would never make the transition to consoles, and that PCs were the shooter platform of choice for the majority.

To explain and expand my point:

The PC game market and the console game market in terms of their nature are fundamentally different along one major tangent. The main draw card for the console market is its instant/quick gratification of users. On the PC market you usually have to wait for something before you can get your fix. Whether its an install or an update or hunting around for a mod to improve or give a new spin on the game experience, a PC gamer doesn't expect instant or quick gratification. Looking at other series like Civilization is probably easier than the shooter market, a game like Civilization sells millions on the PC but its not a game where the fun starts as soon as you put the disc in.

I won't say that the game market on the PC is in a particularly healthy state relative to where it was, because many of the good girls and boys are transitioning to consoles and the pirates are remaining. However the first port of call for an ex-PC gamer is more likely the Xbox 360 than the PS3 due to the legacy of PC games sharing the Xbox platform for a while now. You can see it if you consider the relative performance of PC style games between the platforms, especially games like Dragon Age Origins with quite a large disparity between the PS3 and Xbox 360 considering the % difference in userbase size.

So whilst im not saying that the PS3 doesn't have a fine and vibrant gaming community, what im saying is that with a higher proportion of traditional console gamers without a PC gaming background, the PS3 is likely the 3rd weakest platform to release this type of game on because proportionally it would have fewer people who can deal with the game style where instant gratification isn't a given. In addition to this, a game like MAG or any shooter for that matter which relies on online needs momentum to propel it to success. These games rely heavily on word of mouth, even more so than single player games because multiplayer gamers are particularly vocal and are subject to a herd mentality where if enough go one way, they all tend to move in that direction.

That's a good read.  Ironically enough myself and my PC friends all bought PS3s because we felt 360 was mostly just going to offer the same games - but we're probably the exception to the rule!

One element of PSN I think has been underexploited, by Sony and developers, is that in theory it's more open, and a more PC like, mod orientated environment is possible.  For the moment while Live is fairly open it does seem to limit that level of access.

I'd like to see Sony take a new title and ensure that, like UT3, it supports mods, etc. activitley, but actually put some effort into trying to foster a community around it.  In theory, if it was embraced, you'd see games on PS3 have lots of extra maps, modes, etc. built by modders.

Given how keenly Sony want to try and push FPS and similar titles I'm surprised they don't try more with this angle, as it would be a clear point of differentiation.  Of course, as you say PS3 is very well seen as the weaker market for these titles vs 360, so it's a bit of a catch 22 in some ways.